What 949 DialAFlight clients thought of Indian Ocean

Excellent communication

Excellent arrangements. Darren Is amazing as always. Definitely recommend to friends and colleagues.

I’ve already phoned asking for a price on another holiday!

E-ticket number required by Air Mauritius for online check-in and not automatically supplied. Caused consternation on a Sunday but 24 hour contact line excellent and solved the problem. Suggest always supplying e-ticket number.

Curtis very helpful and supportive as usual.

Excellent as always

Excellent customer service

Excellent service. We will definitely book with you again.

Very helpful and great service

Would not recommend a stop in Abu Dhabi if layover is 4 plus hours as facilities are poor.

Not only excellent service from staff but also very competitive price for holiday

Gary and Tammy were very helpful and ensured that best flights were booked despite the airline constantly changing them.

Excellent. Richard is been amazing. Nothing is too much trouble.

Leah and the team understood our requirements and couldn’t have done more - great service as always.

Roy and his colleagues were as attentive and helpful as ever.

Very good organisation. I am very happy and always get a great deal. Thanks you Sebastian and all the team. You are brillant. I will definitely recommend my friends

Service provided by Michelle was excellent

Toby was excellent, easy to get hold of and delivered as per request. We will use him again for future holidays for sure.

We relayed our thoughts about what we wanted and got exactly that. Jackson always communicated with us so we knew what was happening. We ended up with a fantastic holiday. Would thoroughly recommend to others

The trip was fantastic. The hotel was super and the transfers were seamless. All was good until we returned to Heathrow terminal 2....!

Isla Lawson has been brilliant throughout our travel arrangements. We would not hesitate to book with DialAFlight again.

Glen Blackburn really understood what my wife and I required from our holiday. He provided us with all the relevant details that really made it easy for us to make a decision. He understood exactly what we wanted, keeping in line with our budget and provided a first class service.

Everything was as promised and we were delighted with our holiday

Marie was amazing throughout the whole process.

Thank you to Seymour who organised this long awaited break. We are both front line NHS staff and we really needed this. So thank you for not turning me away as many other companies I contacted who would not help or reply or consider looking for deals! Thank you. We will definitely recommend to our friends and family.

Everything went exactly to plan - perfect thank you.

The whole trip was fantastic.. everything went without a hitch and accommodation was superb

Marco was fantastic as was his team. Nothing was too much for them and they made the booking and travel effortless.

Very efficient service

We asked Daniel to suggest a hotel in Mauritius. He provided the most perfect location that suited my family. He kept in contact between booking the trip and us actually going and was always on hand to answer our many queries. I can’t recommend highly enough!

Indian Ocean Idyll

The hotel with the biggest wow on Mauritius

It has its own helipad, grows its own herbs to be used in massages – but Tom Laing's jaw dropped when he saw the cocktail waiters on Segways

What do you get if you cross a tropical island wrapped in white sandy beaches in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a luxury hotel that's received a $48million makeover?

And throw in a couple of private islands, three beaches, two pools, a spa and a helicopter transfer from the airport to the on-site helipad. The answer is the Shangri-La Le Touessrok on Mauritius, the epitome of luxury on an island bristling with five-star hotels.

It was originally opened as a restaurant in the 1970s. So customers could happily drink with dinner without worrying about driving home, the owner decided to build a few bungalows.

Over the following years he bought a neighbouring sugar plantation and expanded into a 200-room hotel - until, in 2015, Shangri-La turned up with some serious cash and a plan to create the hotel with the biggest wow in Mauritius.

We sweep down the palm tree-lined drive, yards from the ocean and the hotel's jetty. After a slick check in we're escorted to our room in the Frangipani wing.

It has two levels, the lower dominated by an enormous bed overlooking patio windows and a balcony facing a quiet beach. The upper level bathroom is focused around a huge egg-shaped bath, big enough for two or maybe three.

Relaxing in the privacy of the Frangipani pool

FRANGIPANI WING

The Frangipani wing boasts Republik, a beach bar style restaurant that spills onto one of Le Touessrok's beaches. Grilled seafood and smoked marlin, as we sit on cushions on the sand, is the perfect way to begin our stay.

And then, astonishingly, a waiter glides smoothly across the sand on a Segway, delivering fruit platters of watermelon and pineapple and cocktails.

The spa showcases the island's botanical produce, growing their own herbs to incorporate into massages. I opt for the two-and-a-half hour 'Seven Essences of Chamarel' - a pampering extravaganza made up of a coco hair treatment, sugar cane body scrub, eye and face mask, aloe vera body wrap and a Tipik massage that leaves me in a lemongrass essence-induced daze for hours.

For all its exclusive seclusion, the Frangipani wing isn't even the most luxurious part of the hotel. That award goes to the three villas nestled at the far end of the grounds with their own private beaches and infinity pools.

Watch the sun set on a catamaran cruise

PRIVATE BUTLERS

With a 24/7 butler team and your own chef on standby to cater to your every craving, it's a 'household' set up designed to make guests feel like they're in a private home.

As we explore the expansive pad, I glance at the branded mini dressing gowns and slippers for the kids. It's certainly not like any private home I've ever been to.

Fancying a change from paddling in the turquoise waters off the hotel's several beaches, I feel like venturing out so head to the jetty that ferries guests to two nearby islands.

For the romantics, Cabana dining on the beach

ILOT MANGÉNIE

Ile aux Cerfs is home to a Bernhard Langer designed championship golf course often voted one of the world's most stunning, but for the more sedate the hidden gem is Ilot Mangénie, a secluded collection of palm trees and forest ringed by stretches of soft white sand. The island is exclusive for Shangri-La's guests, with butlers serving lobster at tables amongst the trees.

With four restaurants and the Sega rum bar dotted across the hotel, you're spoiled for choice - as well as lots of local seafood, there's Indian and Japanese.

Faultless service from a beaming barman

At Safran, spicy aromas draw us towards the open kitchen, where two tandoor ovens sit proudly on display. Safran is a nod to the strong Indian influence on the island, mixing Mauritian staples such as chicken and prawn curry with Southern Indian classics including tandoori salmon and yellow spiced lentils.

Then there's Kushi, the Japanese restaurant with its master sushi chef and an array of cocktails and sake. I go for the Yakinuki, which means time for some DIY. The centre of the table opens out to reveal a grill whilst plates of melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef, shellfish and vegetables are delivered, which you sizzle on the flames.

Competition for top spot amongst Mauritius's hotels is fierce, as each pushes the boundaries. Who knows what they'll come up with next, but for now Le Touessrok is setting the bar at a dizzy height.

First published in the Daily Mail - November 2017

More articles below...

For more inspiration, read what travel writers have to say...